Campaign groups attack welfare plan

Saturday 6 January 2007 00:03 BST

Government backing for radical reforms of the welfare system including a new requirement for lone parents to look for work once their youngest child reaches 12, was attacked as "mistaken and misguided" by campaign groups.

The Prime Minister and the Chancellor both supported recommendations which will lead to private firms and voluntary groups being paid to place people into work.

Firms will be given money to train the hardest-to-help, including long-term unemployed, lone parents and people on incapacity benefits, and will be given extra rewards if people stay in a job for longer than three years.

Ministers stressed there will be greater obligations on claimants to look for work, especially single parents who will be required to seek a job when their youngest child reaches 12 rather than the current age of 16.

Campaign groups working with unemployed people, including lone parents, lined up to criticise the Government, while union leaders warned of industrial action by jobcentre workers.

Chris Pond, chief executive of One Parent Families and a former Labour MP, said: "Most lone parents with children at secondary school are already working and if they are not it is because there are obstacles in their way or their children need them at home.

"Taking a strong-arm approach to these parents would be wholly counter-productive, intensifying the pressures on them while deterring those lone parents who are work-ready from coming forward for the excellent voluntary, New Deal scheme."

Colette Marshall, UK director of Save the Children, said: "The Government's approach is misguided. Tackling worklessness and child poverty is an investment that will reap long-term benefits, including savings to the Treasury and improvements to families' well-being and life chances, but it's wrong to link this approach to a regime of sanctions."

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "The plans for tougher rules for lone parents and for the contracting-out of Jobcentre Plus services are mistaken. Most lone parents with older children are already in paid work, and most of the rest face extra problems getting a job, perhaps because they have a disabled child."

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, said: "These privatisation plans are a slap in the face for the dedicated Jobcentre staff who have successfully delivered the New Deal and the lowest unemployment in a generation. Coming against a backdrop of massive job cuts and office closures, these plans will further fuel the anger and uncertainty amongst staff, prompting the possibility of further industrial action."